Originally Posted by
Flea77
First, I have to disagree with the built in video and would avoid it like the plague. For one, the lower end ones share ram with your system ram, that is bad, very bad. Next, even when you do put in a separate card, sometimes they just do not play well. Then of course, it adds extra heat to your board which is not that great. Lastly, they are almost never as powerful as a standard card.
That said, here is my bare minimum guide to building a PC:
1) Memory is cheap. Photos are only going to get larger. If you buy less than 4GB quit reading this guide because you are an idiot. Go for 8GB of NAME BRAND. I like Kingston HyperX personally.
2) Hard drives, Seagate is more reliable, WD is faster. Anything else I would avoid. Both Seagate and WD have an awesome warranty which is super fast and easy should you have a problem.
3) Processor, for you I would not go for an i7, save your pennies and look at the Core 2s. Go to Newegg, look up Intel, Code 2 Duos, sort by price lowest first, scroll down until it hurts, back up one, there you go.
4) Motherboard, I am and have been a huge Asus fan, have probably 500 of them in the field right now, installing a new one as I type this. Some others are good too, but any midrange ($70-$150) Asus board will last a long time. Right now I am installing a lot of P5QL Pros, they seem quite good.
5) Power supply, if you ignore everything else I wrote, do not cheap out here. There are lots of good brands, I personally like Antec. You do not have to buy huge and expensive, but steer clear of the $29.99 specials. Might I suggest a 550 Antec?
6) Video cards, I like XFX, have yet to have one fail, have probably 100 in the field, the 9500 or 9600 is a good medium card that will not have your system waiting on it. Want a little cheaper? I have had good luck with the Asus 8400GS cards with probably 200 in the field, one failure I can remember.
7) Monitors, there is no silver bullet here (OK, well there is, Viewsonic pro series are excellent for the money) but without spending a fortune I would suggest you go to a store and look at a lot of them, figure out what you do and do not like. For example, if my monitors had gloss screens I would be in prison because I would have already lost my mind and killed everyone I know. Some people like them. Some have different levels of gloss, some tilt, some rise, some wash your car....ummmm, ok skip that last bit. Seriously, monitors can be very personal, try them out.
Hope this helps!
Allan
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